Stay on target

As the lead technician in a Virology lab, Sarah Horak had always loved her work in science. Her job didn’t actually allow her to be out in the field very much though, which was disappointing, as she and her husband, Justin, both loved the outdoors and were always trying to find more ways to spend time there. So when she found out that there was a nonprofit called Adventure Scientists looking for volunteers to help other scientists gather data in the outdoors, she was immediately intrigued.

“They were looking for volunteers to help collect water samples for [a] microplastics study,” she says. “I signed up, met with the project manager on the study, and was immediately hooked.”

The project allowed her to combine her two loves — science and the outdoors — which is why the microplastics project was only her first foray into Adventure Scientists projects. After two years of volunteering on that first one, she and her husband became volunteers for a large, important pollinator project that was gathering information about butterflies in remote, backcountry areas.

Insects are the foundation of biodiversity, and yet, very little is known about most of their populations, especially in wilderness areas. So the pollinator project with the University of Arizona aimed to gather information about butterfly populations in wild public lands, how their ranges shift, and which species might be declining in the near future. This information would then inform how conservationist could save butterflies before it’s too late, and could even help maintain entire ecosystems too because these pollinators serve as what scientists call “biodiversity indicators” for ecosystem health.

“Butterflies contribute to pollination of some flowers,” explains Michelle Toshack, Adventure Scientist project manager for the pollinator project. “[But] their main role in ecosystems is to provide food for other animals. Those fat caterpillars are essentially nature’s hot dogs, and can make up a large proportion of birds diets, especially in high alpine ecosystems.”

“Insects in general have rapidly declined over the past few decades, which has huge implications since so many animals rely on [them] for food,” she continues. “[And] many of the threats to pollinators [like butterflies] are human-caused.”

But to gather the kind of data set that they needed to truly understand the distribution, density and abundance of butterflies in remote, public lands, needed a lots and lots of information just to establish a baseline. “For prioritizing pollinator conservation, the very first step is understanding distribution of existing species,” explains Toshack. “How can we know what to conserve if we don’t even know what species are out there, and what their distribution is?” Just to establish the baseline they needed would have taken years and years had it not been for the help of Adventure Scientists.

That’s why the nonprofit Adventure Scientists unites scientists with outdoor enthusiasts, such as Sarah and her husband, who are willing to help gather data in some of the pretty wild and difficult places around the world.

“We recruit, train, and manage volunteers to gather lab-quality field data so that our partners can use the data in scientific studies policymaking, and in court to address pressing environmental and human health issues,” explains Marcus Pearson, Director of Program Investments and General Counsel at Adventure Scientists.

The best part is that you don’t have to be a scientist or even have a scientific background to volunteer to gather this data; you just have to be willing to be trained in the process of scientific data collection and, of course, be adventurous enough to strike out into some pretty remote places on any of the seven continents in the name of research.

Adventure Scientists volunteer Sarah Horack says she loves “being a part of something that could have such a huge impact for change.” (Photo Credit: Sarah and Justin Horack)

For example, for the pollinator project, Toshack says, “we have a small army of butterfly-chasers in high alpine meadows collecting data for this project… This summer alone, volunteers hiked over 3000 miles!”

“[It] would be nearly impossible to get that many field technicians or graduate students out collecting data on that scale,” she continues. “Volunteers fill in data gaps in remote areas where otherwise there [would] have been little or no data.”

Of course, in order for that data to be lab-quality, volunteers have to be thoroughly trained. “Some projects require in-person training, while for others, we develop online trainings,” says Pearson. “In both cases, we require our volunteers to review the scientific literature behind the issue and to walk through the protocol in a way so that in the end, they can pass a test with a 100% score.”

“A less-than-perfect score requires the volunteers to review the training and retake the test,” he adds.

For the pollinator project, Toshack trained volunteers through online training modules, teaching them how to chase down a butterfly (without falling or hurting themselves in the process), swoop it up into a butterfly net and then carefully handle it without harming it. She then showed the trainees how to take high-quality photos of the top and bottom of their wings, submit the photos through an iNaturalist app and then carefully release the little critters safely to the wild again. Finally, she trained them on how collect information about wildflowers in the areas where they saw butterflies.

For the pollinator project, volunteers were trained on how to chase down a butterfly, swoop it up into a butterfly net, and then carefully handle it without harming it. (Photo Credit: Louise Johns)

“Butterfly catching is not as easy as it looks,” says Sarah. That’s why she had her husband take on the task of actually collecting the butterflies, while she took the pictures of them. The pair went on several trips in Montana for the project, including Hyalite Lake and Garnet Mountain (an 8-mile round trip hike to a large meadow).

“When people ask why we volunteered,” she continues, “I tell them ‘who wouldn’t want to bound through mountaintop meadows collecting butterflies?’ The truth is, in our busy lives, we often don’t take real time to enjoy the beauty around us. Adventure Scientists gives us more of a purpose for the completion of our weekend adventures.”

Already, according to Toshack, the baseline data collected by volunteers, like Sarah, in 2017 and 2018 has made an impact. Researchers on the project have partnered with the US Forest Service to implement management strategies for butterflies, such as restoration planting, timing prescribed burns, and forest planning. Plus, Toshack says, “we are engaging a global group of curious volunteers” who become ambassadors for the many issues around pollinator decline.

For her part, Sarah says, she just loves “being a part of something that could have such a huge impact for change.”